March 2

Lecture Outline  - March 2

Acid Rain and Transboundary Air Pollution

I.    The History of Air Pollution

             Great London Smog

II.   The nature of acid "rain"

sulphur dioxide

nitrous oxides

volatile organic compounds  (VOCs)

III.     Areas with transboundary air pollution problems

Europe   (map)    

              Oden's "insidious chemical warfare          

            EMEP Grid

        North America    (map)  

        Arctic haze   (map)

        East Asia       (map)

         Indian Ocean    (large cloud)           

IV.    Evolution of the LRTAP Regime    (see also Swedish NGO Secretariat on Acid Rain)

• Stockholm Conference (1972)

• Helskinki Accord (1975)

• Brezhnev Initiative

• Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution adopted (1979)

• Stockholm Conference on Acidification (1982) - Germany announces it will work to reduce acid forming pollutants

III.    LRTAP Protocols

• Sulphur Protocol (1985)

  • 30% reduction in sulphur emissions by 1993 (from 1980 levels)

•  

• Nitrogen Protocol (1988)

  • Nitrogen oxide emissions returned to 1987 levels by 1994

•  

• VOC Protocol (1991)

  • 30% reduction by 1999

•  

• Revised Sulfur Protocol (1994)

• critical load (enter site and click on "acid rain" and then on "critical load") - amount of acid deposition a specific region can absorb without serious environmental damage (map of critical loads in Europe)

• Excessive Deposition- amount of acid deposition in a region beyond its critical load

• Selected Specific Commitments:

  • Germany (-83%)

  • Austria (-80%)

  • France (-74%)

  • United Kingdom (-50%)

  • Russia (-38%)

  • Greece (+49%)

Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication, and Ground Level Ozone (1999)

                Individualized national ceilings on:

• sulfur dioxide

• nitrogen oxides

• volatile organic compounds

• ground level ozone

V.  Reductions achieved thus far among the European countries

                   Sulphur dioxide -  (down 72 % since 1980)

                   Nitrogen Oxides  (down 31% since 1980)

                   Volitile organic compounds (down 41% since 1980)